How Mikel Arteta applies the ancient Greek philosophy of stoicism in his management.

THREAD!

“It feels like the next training session.”

This is Mikel Arteta’s typical response when he is asked questions like “How important do you feel are the upcoming games?”

He doesn’t think far ahead. His focus is only on the moment.

The rise of Arsenal's special 27-year-old individual development coach, Carlos Cuesta. THREAD! You must have all seen Carlos Cuesta sitting down with players in Arsenal's Amazon All or Nothing documentary. The Spaniard joined Arsenal in August 2020, aged 24 and took on the role as the first team individual development coach, reporting directly to Mikel Arteta.

From one win away from Champions league football, to becoming 5th. Where does Arsenal go from here? An honest thread. I said at the start of the season, that 4th should be the objective. For me, we have failed to fulfil that. Let’s not shift the goalposts. The manager has extended his contract and stays so the debate on his future is pointless for now. Let’s face the reality.

When our key players are all starting together, we play like a Champions league side. Drop off is too high if a couple of them are unavailable. This summer is about adding 2-3 finishing pieces to the first 11 and ensuring there’s quality depth in certain positions. Arteta’s style of play requires players with certain skillsets and if you're a limited player, you won't make it here. He's not a coach who will play a deep block and go long for 90 minutes. In many aspects tactically, there are similarities to Man City.

A thread analyzing Vlahovic's potential transfer to Arsenal based on reports and a bit of reading in between the lines/nuance. Firstly, we all know this - the interest is real. David Ornstein, the number 1 Arsenal source has confirmed he is our top target. He has confirmed that we have the money to make this happen. So the finances are absolutely not an issue.

Leno's pass wasn't ideal, but when it comes to playing out from the back, there's a risk-reward associated with it. If Ceballos is able to turn away from the press or play a first-time pass, we've taken 4 opposition players out of the game and have huge spaces to attack. And to be fair to Ceballos, he usually doesn't lose the ball there. If there's one quality that stands out for Dani, he's good at beating a press. Usually, he wouldn't lose the ball like that in such a situation. Maybe him just coming on played a factor.

Making sense of our struggles this season. (A thread) There was lots of optimism going into this season and for good reason - Arteta took over a side having 1 league win over 3 months and made us competitive - we beat United, City, Liverpool (twice), Chelsea and won silverware. Let us first recognize his excellent work last season.

Niko Kovač was quite happy playing the likes of James Rodriguez last season and Coutinho this season at #10 and in big games it just didn't work. Hansi moving Muller centrally instead of playing a creator at #10 has raised Bayern's intensity to another level. Look at how Bayern looked completely out of depth against Liverpool last year. James played both the legs and that's the type of player Klopp's 4-3-3 works best on. Flick, even when he's brought Coutinho on has ensured he plays on the left. Central areas he wants that intensity.

Raul Sanllehi: "I’m proud and pleased with the contribution I’ve made at Arsenal over the past three years, and look forward to enjoying the club’s future success. Arsenal is a true footballing institution." Sanllehi: "Working with Vinai, we have built a top team for the future. Mikel has made an extremely positive impact since his arrival and has formed a strong team with our technical director, Edu."

Arteta on Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp: "First 2 years it took them some time to rebuild the squad and to create a new culture, a new philosophy and a game model that suited the coach. Then they started to recruit every single player in relation to what they needed.... ..... and that's where I think they were really smart. They bought with specificity for every position that was required. Financially they had a big backing and made some big signings which completely changed the club in my opinion."

Dennis Bergkamp speaking to Mail: "I watched Arteta’s first game in charge at home (against Chelsea). In that game it was clear to see what his intentions were with the team. The front 4 would chase the ball and put pressure on the opponents, but the midfield stayed behind." #afc Bergkamp: "There was a big hole (As a result). I don’t know if you remember the AC Milan of Arrigo Sacchi, with Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. In training, they’d have ropes between them, so the distance between the players was always similar on the pitch." #afc

Honest thread on Arsenal's squad. When your center forward goes 6 continuous games without scoring for the second time in a season and your creative player offers 0 goal threat and has 1 assist in the past 17 games, it is no mystery we fail to kill games off. Team is over reliant on Aubameyang.

'The sacking of Steven Morrow and his staff was the first sign of Edu taking a look at the structures at Arsenal and acting with authority. Relations had not been ideal between Morrow and Per Mertesacker, head of the academy. ' [@TheAthleticUK] @TheAthleticUK 'One of Edu’s first observations when he returned to Arsenal last summer as technical director was surprise at the sheer number of staff across various departments.' [@TheAthleticUK]